Main menu

Pages

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Recipe for Sauteed Kale with Garlic and Onion (Melting Tuscan Kale)

It's St. Patrick's Day so you might be cooking Corned Beef with Vegetables, Roasted Cabbage with Lemon, or 100% Whole Wheat Brown Soda Bread, but I still thought this was a good day to feature kale, since it's certainly the greenest of all the leafy green vegetables. Dark green kale was a vegetable I was slow to warm up to, and until recently I'd mostly cooked Red Russian Kale that I grew in my garden. Then I tried Roasted Kale Chips and realized how much I liked the flavor of dark green kale. This recipe for cooking kale until it's so tender it seems to be "melting" is adapted from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, one of the cookbook authors I'd most like to meet. Lynne says home cooks all over Italy saute their greens using this method, and this kale was a delicious side dish for some fish that I cooked on the grill. I served my kale with a sprinkling of Spanish Sherry Vinegar which is definitely optional; you could also sprinkle the cooked kale with balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar which is what my mother always used over cooked greens when I was a kid.

Chop up a red onion (or a generous amount of shallots would also be good) and saute until they are just starting to brown, about 3-4 minutes over medium heat. Then add 2 cloves finely minced garlic and saute about 1 minute more.

While the onions cook, cut away kale stems and discard, then chop the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces and wash and dry. (I used a salad spinner, but you can wash in the sink and dry with paper towels.)

Add the chopped kale to the pan with the onion/garlic mixture and let it wilt.

Then add 1/2 cup water and let the kale cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes until the pan is almost dry.

Add another 1/2 cup water and let the kale continue to cook until the pan is nearly dry again. The kale is starting to get that "melted" look.

Add another 1/2 cup water and cook again for 5-10 minutes; then taste the greens and see if they are melt-in-your-mouth tender. If needed, you can add water a fourth time and cook a bit longer. The greens should be moist but not soaked with water when they are done. Season with vinegar if desired and serve hot or warm.

Chop the onion or shallots and finely mince the garlic, then heat oil in heavy frying pan until it's medium-hot and saute onion 3-4 minutes until it starts to brown. When onion is turning slightly brown, add garlic and saute 1 minute more.

While onions and garlic cook, cut away the center rib from each kale leaf and discard. Chop or tear the kale leaves into bite-sized pieces, then wash and spin dry or dry with paper towels.

Add chopped kale leaves to the browned onion/garlic mixture, season generously with salt and fresh ground black pepper, and let the kale wilt for 2-3 minutes, then add 1/2 cup water, stir, and let the kale cook in the water until the pan is almost dry, about 5-10 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup more water and cook kale 5-10 minutes more, then add a third 1/2 cup of water and cook kale 5-10 minutes more. After you've added water and cooked it off three times, taste to see if the kale is tender; if not, add water one more time and cook a bit longer.

When kale is melt-in-your-mouth tender and the pan is nearly dry, season as desired with vinegar and serve hot or warm.

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Jen, I definitely think you could substitute some of the water with stock, but maybe not all because it might get too salty after it's repeatedly cooked away. I did have that thought myself too, but haven't tried it.

I know that kale is so good for us, but I've never eaten a kale dish I truly enjoyed and therefore have never served it at home. I think it's time to give kale another shot though. Perhaps this is just the recipe to sway my opinion (& my family's too)!

Anonymous, last year I had volunteer Red Russian Kale, but it ended up being tough and stringy, so I wished I had pulled it out and planted new seeds. I'm not sure if this type of kale will overwinter better, but I'd cut off the leaves while they are still fairly small.

I don't think I've ever knowingly eaten kale before, and certainly have never cooked with it, but I made this last night. I really enjoyed it, and so did my fellow non-kale-eating diners. I used balsamic because I didn't have any sherry vinegar; now I have a good excuse to find and buy some.

I tried this last night and it was fabulous! I added shitake mushrooms when I sauteed the garlic, 4 rounds of liquid with one being chicken broth and added fresh snow peas from the garden with the last batch of water. Also, added a little cooking sherry. Loved it!

We found beautiful local kale and shitakes at the farm market, then came home to find something to do with them. Voila! Followed this recipe including the later comment that added shitakes. This morning, we stirred the leftovers into some eggs and grated cheese to make your "Swiss Chard and Mushroom Squares" -- with kale, obviously. Two-fer!

Why go to the trouble of drying the kale, especially with paper towels (I see the sense of spinning off the excess water, but even that seems unnecessary)? The moisture from the rinsed kale leaves helps them to wilt; then even more water is added. That said, this is a good recipe and we're on a kale roll in our house so we'll use this easy one often. Thanks.

I made this last night to go with our roast chicken and it was just fabulous! Thank you! Before I had no idea how to cook it and it was HORRIBLE. Now I have a great side to accompany my meats while I'm Somersizing.

I absolutely love Kale. I grew up on it, but my grandmother used to overcook it. This recipes helps me control the amount of water that is put into it. Ingenious. Now I can cook it too my level of doneness. I didn't have any fresh garlic, but a little garlic salt and powder was a great substitute. Thanks so much for sharing.... I will use this recipe over and over again.

I enjoyed the Kale recipe. I am born and raised in the south so greens were usually collard greens or turnip greens and cooked to death. I preferred your cooking method to the all day version I remember growing up! Thanks.

This is my favorite way to enjoy kale. Until I tried this recipe, I had been unable to make it this way at home. We enjoyed it tonight with your easy garlic & lemon shrimp, but I will be preparing this dish often in a variety of combinations. (Not just as a side, but over top quinoa or rice.)

So thankful I found your recipe. I have already made it twice and the kale is so tender and delicious. I have been kale-deprived for the last 3 years because of chronic jaw pain; I didn't know a method for cooking kale that would make it easy to chew. Your recipe is a life-saver. Thank you!

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

Comments don't appear on the blog until they're approved by me, so no need to try again if you don't see it when you post the comment! Please make your signature a link to your site if you're a blogger, but other links posted within the body of the comment will never be published.

Food Blogger Love!

Copyright Notice

All Photos and Original Text (C) Copyright: 2005-2015, By Kalyn's Kitchen® LLC. I grant permission for photos and recipe links to be copied to social media and other sites, but not recipe text. All Other Rights Reserved. (Other bloggers may post their adapted version of any recipe found here, with their own photos and recipe text, but please link back to the original inspiring recipe on this site.)

Kalyn's Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.